Would you leave a window open during the heating or air-conditioning season? If your home is more then 5 years old normal aging will slowly attack the air-tight qualities your home had when it was new.

Most homes built over the last 15 years or so have featured  energy efficiency ratings. One of the more prominent ratings is  Energy Star® although several others also exist.  No matter how well your home was insulated when it was first constructed as the years go by there is a normal deterioration in the leakage integrity.  Great insulation doesn't do much if the leakage rate has increased to the level of say opening a large window wide open.

Wear and tear on door seals, window seals, are larger sources of leakage problems than most people realize.  Cracks between joints that form from settling or even normal expansion & contraction add to leakage.  Things like attic stair access doors tend to warp adding more leakage.  All of these leakage points evolve gradually so you don't really notice that the kitchen may be a bit more drafty then it was last year for example.

On a typical 10 year old house the growth in air leakage will account for over 30% of the cost of heating and cooling no matter how energy efficient it was when it was built.  In fact, the more efficient it was as a result of special insulation, the more that leakage is costing you. 

Finding and repairing air leaks is an easy task that takes very little time to correct.  We've produced a short video that shows you how to check and repair air leakage problems.

PLUG THE CASH LEAK VIDEO

PLUG THE CASH LEAK INSTRUCTION SHEET